Outdoor temperature inversely tied to cardio-cerebrovascular event morbidity

The association between outdoor temperature and cardio-cerebrovascular events risk is mediated by temperature-driven blood pressure (BP), according to a study.

An increase of 6.7 mm Hg in systolic BP and 2.1 mm Hg in diastolic BP was observed for each 10 °C decrease in outdoor temperature when outdoor temperature was higher than 5 °C. Outdoor temperature was inversely associated with cardio-cerebrovascular event morbidity. Of note, central heating attenuated the increases in BP and cardio-cerebrovascular event morbidity.

“Indoor heating in winter is probably beneficial to cardio-cerebrovascular disease prevention by inhibition of BP increase,” the authors said.

Additionally, hypertension was associated with higher risks of cardio-cerebrovascular disease (hazard ratio [HR], 1.347, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.281–1.415), cardiovascular disease (HR, 1.347, 95 percent CI, 1.282–1.416), major adverse cardiovascular events (HR, 1.670, 95 percent CI, 1.560–1.788), and stroke (HR, 1.683, 95 percent CI, 1.571–1.803).

In mediation analysis, BP potentially facilitated the association between outdoor temperature and cardio-cerebrovascular events risk.

In this study, the authors analysed the data of 38,589 participants in Harbin from the China Kadoorie Biobank during 2004–2008, with an average follow-up of 7.14 years. They performed linear regression analysis to estimate the association between outdoor temperature and BP. Cox regression and logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship of BP with cardio-cerebrovascular event risk. Finally, the authors carried out mediation analysis to explore the role of BP in the link between outdoor temperature and cardio-cerebrovascular risk.